MARK C. STEVENSON
CIRCLE
of
FIFTHS
Circle of Fifths is a pictorial response to John Coltrane’s diagrams for Giant Steps and the way the harmonic structure of the circle of fifths parallels the relationships of hue, value, and chroma on the color wheel.
The placement of paintings in relation to one another forms patterns from which emotional responses emerge, echoing how musical arrangements generate feeling.
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CIRCLE OF FIFTHS CONT.
While the underlying concept is structural, the execution of the paintings follows a more improvisational approach. Instead of building static color fields, the surfaces developed through layered gestures and palette‑knife movements that responded to the painting in real time. This felt more consistent with the musical source of the project, where improvisation operates within an established harmonic framework.
The paintings were never intended to exist in a fixed sequence; their arrangement remains fluid. Placing works such as Red, Blue, and Orange together produces shifting visual relationships depending on proximity and order—much like the changing harmonic character that emerges when musical intervals are rearranged.
Several paintings from the series were later reworked into subsequent projects, including pieces within the Call Me Ishmael series.
Circle of Fifths represents an early exploration of system‑based structure within Stevenson’s practice, introducing ideas about cyclical organization, variation within constraint, and the relational perception of works viewed together.